The Shifter Chronicles 5: Divisions: Seperation
by A. A. Kuehl
Summary: Stryke is living with two other people in her head, and none of them can agree on anything. So, naturally, they want their own bodies, and their own lives. But as the saying goes, you have to be careful what you wish for ...


The Shifter Chronicles: Divisions

**Part I**

The Separation   


            Detention room. One more detention, and they'll name the room after me. I can see it now, 'Hey, were are you going?' 'Oh, I'm going to the Anna room.'  
            I wrinkled up my hall pass as I walked in after school. I took up origami a few years back, and I still fiddle around with scrap paper. I finished with something that looked like a demented goose. I was trying to make a swan.  
            That's a summary of my life. Go for a swan, get a goose. Try for an 'A', get a 'B+'. Try to control your anger, get a detention for fighting. Ah, the life of a Shifter is so glamorous.  
            It wasn't my fault, really. I just don't like it when people who think they're tough try to mess with younger kids. In fact, I hate it. Especially since I look younger than I am. I'm thirty-three, but I look twenty-six. In human years, I'm a sixteen year old who looks like a twelve year old. It's that time hopping thing again.  
            I walked into the vice-principal's office, signed in, and sat down.  
            The Vice Principal at my new school is a Yeerk. A Human-Controller, to be specific. A Yeerk is an intergalactic slug that crawls in your ear, wraps around your brain, ties into your thoughts, and controls you. And no one can tell the difference. Unless you get a stupid Yeerk like I did.  
            The Vice Principal walked in. Hendrick Chapman.  
            He was there twenty-some odd years ago. He was a real jerk. In fact, he's the reason the Yeerks know about the humans. He betrayed his kind for money and power. He was the first Human-Controller ever.  
            He gave up his recent freedom to save his daughter. I don't care. He's still a jerk.  
            "Anna."  
            "Yes, sir."  
            _Yes sir? Do you remember who you're talking to? Chappo? The guy whose last few words were, 'How do you like it, Andalite'? And you're treating him with respect?!  
            That was Lex. She dislikes Chapman about as much as cows dislike flies.  
            __I am trying to keep a certain life-ensuring cover here, Lex.  
            I kept my face carefully expressionless.  
            "How are you?"  
            I shook my head to the side and smiled a Navarazzi smile. "Bruised arm. Torn jacket. Nothing big. Been better, though."  
            He stared hard at me. I didn't know whether I was being pressed by a Controller, a Vice Principal, or a combination of both._

            Both.  
            "Anna, this is your ninth detention."  
            "So? Lots of other kids get more than that."  
            "School has only been in session one month."  
            "Okay, I'll admit, that's not going to be easy to explain to the folks, but-"  
            "May I ask how this got started?"  
            I sighed," These three punks decided to pick on a guy in the grade level below me. They were shoving him into a locker. I stopped the tyranny."  
            "Two boys in the grade above you are in the nurse's office right now. Both with black eyes, one has a bloody nose. The janitor is still trying to get the other out of a locker."  
            I couldn't help laughing. The fight was an hour ago.  
            "I guess they're not as tough as they say they are."  
            Chapman leaned forward in his chair, putting his elbows on the desk. I stared him calmly in the eye.  
            "Anna, this can not be tolerated. You have fought with nearly every student in this school, causing you to be, shall we say, a problem student."  
            I shrugged.  
            "Now," he continued, "As you know, I am the local head of a wonderful group called the Sharing."  
            "Yes," I said unemotionally, "I am familiar with the Sharing."  
            I was almost a member of the Sharing. I was scheduled to be a full member once. The Sharing is a front organization for Yeerks. They get hosts through it. I was a host once, though not through the Sharing. But my aunt, cousin, mother, and father are.  
            Chapman leaned back in his chair and picked up a pile of papers.  
            "I have been reviewing your records for the last two days."  
            "And?"  
            "And they do not speak well of you."  
            "Oh."  
            "Shall we review?"  
            "Do I have much of a choice?"  
            Chapman glared at me.  It wasn't the real Chapman, of course. The Yeerk that controlled him, the Yeerk in his head, glared at me.  
            "It says here that you had reasonably good grades in your old hometown. 'A' average. Now," he pointed to a date on the sheet, "it says here you suddenly stopped caring about your classes. Fighting. Becoming a difficult student to work with."  
            "On the contrary, I am very reasonable with the staff here. I do my homework, most of the time; I don't disrupt classes; I volunteer in class, I'm getting all A's; I have the highest average in math class, of all things; what else do you want?"  
            _Other than your brain, of course. Lex said.  
            "What we want," Chapman said, unable to hear Lex's contributions to the conversation, "is for you to shape up your act outside of class. You have currently beaten up, if you will, six people, three of which are in the grade above you. Four are males."  
            Navarazzis are a bit stronger than humans. Not much, but let's just say in a dominance fight with an angry Navarazzi, you don't stand a chance, unless you have a decent weapon.  
            "So what? They're males, I'm a female; I mopped the floor with them. What does that prove?"  
            "I am not being sexist. I am merely pointing out than most females in your grade could not do what you have done."  
            "Thank you."  
            "That was not meant as a compliment."  
            "Oh. Well, I am acing P.E."  
            "That's not the point."  
            I wiggled in my chair. I had had the same old talk from my aunt and uncle and from this guy since I came here. I was guessing he'd give me the 'do it again and you are in hot water' schlemiel next.  
            Nope. A Sharing sponsored school education trip. That was the Yeerk's brilliant idea. They don't want me, so why not send me to Europe?  
            I was considering asking him why he didn't just infest me, and get all his problems over with, but decided against it. Foresight is nonexistent with me, but I'm not stupid. Most of the time, anyways.  
            Chapman raved on about how great the Sharing was, how the trip would probably be a 'reforming' experience for me, told me he was sure I understood, and gave me the brochure.  
            By the time he was done, my detention was over. I stuffed the packet in my bookbag and walked out of the school.  
            "Great. France. Hear that, guys? Says here this trip's going to France. Whoopee."  
            I was talking to Anna and Lex, of course.  
            __Stryke, do you speak any French?  
            "Anna, it's not like I study French when you're not around. Not like I practice in my free time. If you don't speak it, neither do I."  
            __Will we have to speak it when we're there?  
            "It's a school trip. Of course we'll be speaking it while we're there. Any other obvious questions?"  
            __How long? Any exchange families?  
            "Says here we'll be there two months, take our classes there, and we get our own French family to stay with. Oh boy."  
            I don't speak much French. I didn't know much more than, 'escargots, sil vous plait, bonjour,' or 'oui'.  With that vocabulary I wouldn't last one hour.  
            I blew off the night's homework to read the brochure. It said I'd be going to Paris, someplace called Le Quarteir la Tin. Call it whatever they want. I didn't want to go.  
            After a long and extensive argument with my uncle and aunt about grades, fighting, detentions, the Sharing, and the stupid trip, it turned out I would go. Great.  
            I filled out the form attached.  
            __#1 Name: Stryke Anna  
            __#2 Age: Thirteen.  
            __#3 D.O.B.: 7-23-84.  
            __#4 Interests: Fighting, writing, watching TV, reading, hanging out with my friends, computers, extraterrestrial life, animals, Greek myths, nature, astronomy, anything to do with food.  
            __#5 Reason why you have decided to join this trip: See interests.  
            __#6 Hair color: Blonde.  
            __#7 Eye color: 'Deformed' eyes, black.  
            __#8 Heredity:  
            "Why do these people care?"  
            I wrote down 'Shifter', crossed it out like I did 'Stryke', and wrote 'Caucasian'.  
            "That was an interesting question."  
            __#9 Languages spoken: English, American teen slang.  
            I could have written 'I speak a little Navarazzi and I'm familiar with a few Andalite words'. But they would have thought I wasn't stable enough to go to France. I really should have written that, thinking back. But I just read on:  
            __You will be assigned to an exchange family in the country you are going to. They will speak your first language, but it is highly suggested you learn this language, both as a learning experience and a fun activity. Please mark your preferred family. *  
            __*Please note: due to circumstances beyond our control, we may not be able to accommodate all of your needs. We will, however, place you in the closest family possible  
            __#10 Siblings:  
            __Brother  Sister  No preference  
            __Parents:  
            __Both parents: One parent (male)  One parent (female)  No preference  
            "Why should I care?" I asked no one.  
            __Languages  
            __Bilingual (if so please state what languages in question #11): One language (this would be the language of their native country):  
            __#11 What languages would you prefer your family to speak?  
            __Spanish English French German Chinese Japanese  
            I figured French and English were enough, so I skipped down to question number twelve.  
            __#12 How long are you planning on staying? Two months      
            "These questions suddenly are getting personal," I noted.  
            I cruised through the rest of the information sheet, hating every minute of it. I didn't want to go to France. I didn't want to leave my friends.  
            What if the war with the Yeerks was over by the time I got back? What if I missed something big?  
            I needed to talk to Aximilli._

**2**

            I Shift a lot. It gets me where I want to go faster, since all Navarazzis I know of have wings; I can eat like a Navarazzi, with is pretty gross when you are first exposed to hunting, but once you get used to it, it can almost be fun; and I get to spend a lot of time in the woods. I like nature for nature's sake, really. And I'm a fairly environmental person. But there is another reason I like spending as much time in the woods as I can.  
            Aximilli lives in the woods.  
            I knew he'd be feeding at this time of night, just after the sun sets but before it's too late for him. And I have a pretty good idea of where he fed.  
            I was flying high overhead, looking for a blue and tan deer.  
            See, Andalites look nothing like humans. Well, their upper body looks like a human, but I'd say they looked more like centaurs, only with scorpion like tails and stalk eyes. And heavenly green eyes. And this mostly calm, monotone voice they use most of the time. It takes a while, but you can begin to read Andalite emotion by hanging with them.  
            I've gotten fairly good at it.  
            _Aximilli! Wait up!  
            Aximilli was trotting through the woods, feeding. Andalites eat with their hooves. They don't have mouths.  
            Anna. What are you doing here? I thought it was a school night.  
            __Eh. Yeah. But I needed to talk to someone.  
            Why not your family? Or one of the others?  
            I shook my head and looked at the ground.  
            __My aunt...Amy...you know how it is. And my uncle and Nick? Nah. They wouldn't understand.  
            Amy and Aunt Barb were Controllers. In fact, it was Amy, the real Amy, who gave me the name Stryke. And after the Yeerk called me by that name, it stuck. It's actually a funny story._

            Why not?  
            "Well," I said, reverting to vocal speech, "It's just that-I don't know. Not many people get the chance to go to Paris, and my uncle has the money, and everyone thinks it'd be a great thing for a student like myself, causing all these problems, but it's just-it's-I mean-I don't know what I'm talking about."  
            Why don't you want to go?  
            "It's just I have something to fight for here. Something to pursue. I'm just afraid this whole war will be over by the time I get back. I mean...two months. That's just an unbearably long time."  
            I don't think that the war will be over by then. Even if it were, you wouldn't miss anything. The others are too young to fight, according to the laws of humans, right?  
            "Yeah, so?"  
            And you are younger than them.  
            "I'm thirty-three. I'm older than any of them. I'm older than my older cousin."  
            Well, you would be, with your journey back in time, but you are still younger than them.  
            "That's not the point! Nothing ever happened to me before this! I was a computer geek before all of this! I used to spend my days surfing the Internet, writing constant messages on this guy's message board! Nothing ever happened to me. I was stuck in this little town whose idea of entertainment was the annual pet parade. And now I get involved in something like this. Something that matters. Something important. I don't want to turn that down, no matter how dangerous."  
            You're afraid of leaving.  
            I rolled my eyes.  
            "I'm babbling aren't I?"  
            Yes, you are. he laughed.  
            "I just feel so...so lost."  
            I walked around with Aximilli for another hour or so, thinking. I was thinking about Aximilli, about France, about how Mrs. Paloma would have a coronary when she found out I didn't do the homework again, about how mad my folks would have been if they found out I spent the evening in the woods again. My life is just too complicated.  
            And it was about to get a whole lot more complicated.  
            As I was walking, I tripped on a rock. I fell flat on my face. It didn't help I was in human form, either.  
            Humans. One push is all it takes to make you fall. A very unstable species.  
            "Yup. Humans. Not stable in the least. Mind helping me up?"  
            He reached his weak hand down to help me keep my balance when I got up. I grabbed it, and stood up. I hadn't realized how close I was to him. I didn't notice how near I was to his face, although he was taller than me.  
            And I never realized how crazy I was for this guy. Oh yes, my life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.  
            I looked into his eyes. He looked into mine. Lex made some comment on how she was going to leave the two of us alone. Anna made another on how he was going to hate me after this. Frankly, I didn't know how I was going to live with myself afterwards, but I was going to do it.  
            I tilted my head a little. I could sense a lot of confusion from Aximilli. I could feel my own fear, too. I pressed my lips against where his would be, should he have a mouth. I closed my eyes. I hugged him. It was possibly the most wonderful, frightening, exciting moment of my life. It wasn't like I was making out or anything, but I was kissing him. A light, wonderful kiss. I was making the best mistake I ever would. I never wanted that minute to end. My first kiss, with my first love, with the only one I ever would love.  
            I don't know what happened next. I think I panicked. Maybe Lex or Anna tried to pull away. Aximilli might have decided he hated my guts. I'll never know. I'm not even sure I want to know. But I do know that in the next second, I wrenched myself from him. I was breathing deeply. I had just kissed him! Was I nuts? What the heck was wrong with me?  
            "Oh, god, I'm sorry."  
            What was-?  
            "It...it's a sign of, that is to say...it's a sign of affection, Aximilli, and I'm sorry. It's a human sign of affection."  
            I had to be crazy. Maybe I had hit my head on a tree, and didn't know. Maybe I could find some way to blame Anna or Lex. But the truth was, I enjoyed it. I felt like crying, but I enjoyed it.  
            And that made me feel ashamed.

            I made the lamest excuse possible to leave. I didn't want to hear what he had to say. To be honest, I think he was still trying to figure out what the heck that was all about. I think I had scared him. I scared me, too.  
            _Stryke, what was with that?  
            __Nothing, never mind.  
            __Stryke, you used my body! As in, my body! As in, you were using me, to do that, to him!  
            __I only kissed him, it's not like I-  
            __Stryke, from now on, let's just not do that again. Okay?  
            __Fine, Lex. Sorry, Anna. I won't do it again. I doubt he'll even speak to me after this, anyway.  
            I walked into the basement, changed into my pajamas, and went to bed. I turned on the radio.  
            "If you could only seeee, the way, she loves me, maybe you could understaaand-"  
            "And that was Tonic, ladies and gentlemen."  
            I turned off the radio. I went to sleep. Wonderful and frightening dreams filled my head, until my dog woke me up to go to school. I tried to keep the past day's occurrences out of my mind during school, I really did. But I just couldn't.  
            Art class was hairy. My mind wanders when I paint. And you can probably guess where my mind wandered.  
            Kissing Aximilli.  
            "I am really disgusting myself," I mumbled.  
            All I wanted was one kiss. And I got it. I'd probably lose that friendship because of it. I actually felt relived when I found out I'd be leaving for France in a week. Despite my recent disgust with the idea, I was all for it now. I slept during French class. All I picked up was how to say 'wake up'.  
            Se reveiller.  
            I breezed through the building when the bell rang.  
            "Yaa! Watch out! It's the girl who thinks she's Storm!"  
            That would be some idiot who had seen a recent fight. I spun around.  
            "Look, I am not in a very good mood right now. And what you just said translates into 'I want to get killed, please beat the crap out of me!' So it would be highly recommended that you keep your mouth shut."  
            The guy stared at me. I smirked. A friend, Jean, caught up to me.  
            "Man, you told him. Nice comeback. Needs a little work, but it was fast."  
            "Thanks," I grumbled.  
            We walked out to the bike racks. I said hey to Marco. We weren't supposed to really act like best buds in public. It's bad for security if we all hang around together and act like we're planning something.  
            "You really aren't in a good mood, are you?"  
            "Nope."  
            "Not enough sleep?"  
            "Not restful sleep."  
            We both got on our bikes and rode home. Jean and I live fairly close to each other. I live about two blocks from her house. She's got a brother named Harold and a dog named Tiffany. She lives with her grandma in this gigantic house.  
            "So, what's up?"  
            "A lot. I'm going to France, I have no foresight, I almost got caught up in this stupid gang war this summer, I got mauled by a cougar, just about everything."  
            "All you need is time travel and aliens, and you can put it on pay-per-view."  
            I laughed. Been there, done that.  
            "Contact Spielberg."  
            We rode along. Jean talked about this guy at school who she didn't like, this girl who was a total jerk to her, and how she was thinking on signing up on the French trip too.  
            "You actually want to go?"  
            "Sure. I've always wanted to see Paris."  
            "I'm just the black sheep, I guess."  
            Jean and I both went to our houses. I walked in, and started to pack for a trip I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on._

*    *    *

            5:15 A.M. Too early.  
            I was at an airport, of all places, waiting for Flight 216 to Paris. I slumped in a chair, and nodded off.  About two seconds later, our group leader nudged my arm. I looked around at the crowd.  There were about five kids like me. Twelve 'regular' kids. One I thought was a Controller. Six 'smart' kids. One adult.  
            I couldn't help but think how easy it'd be for the six of us 'problem kids' to take off in different directions, without the adult being able to do anything about it.  
            I looked at the note I had gotten earlier. It contained the names of my exchange family.  I had two sisters: Aude and Veronique. Aude was really into science and astronomy, Veronique liked to read, work on the computer, and make art. Aude spoke fluent English, while Veronique spoke none. Their parents spoke a little. I couldn't even say hello properly.  
            "Thank you, Powers that Be, for giving me a family that speaks a language I do."  
            I looked at the circled area on the map. It told me where they lived. Someplace called Le Goff? I can't read maps to save my life.  Let alone French maps.  
            Now, don't get the wrong idea. I have nothing against France. I would have loved to go there. Anna was all for it. Lex wasn't so sure. It's just I wasn't for it at the time. Otherwise, I would have been thrilled. I mean, France is supposed to be this beautiful country with rich art, great food, and a wonderful history. But I kind of had this idea engraved in my head I wouldn't enjoy myself. And that's probably the only reason I was dreading the entire trip.  
            I was practicing what I was going to say to my new family when I met them. I didn't want to look like a total airhead.  
            "Bonjour, madam. Ca va? No, I want the formal version. Where is it?"  
            I flipped through the pocket dictionary they had given us.  
            "Comment allez-vous?"  
            I turned to the pages marked 'Helpful Phrases'.  
            "Je me suis perdu. I'm lost. Boy, am I."  
            Ten minutes later, we boarded the plane.  Some hours later, we got off the plane.  I think I may have left my mind on the plane, though.  Or maybe it was the jet lag.  Yes, it had to be the jet lag. Had to be.            Everything I had learned about how to speak French was erased from my head. Unfortunately, I still knew words.  
            In the mad rush of people in customs, I somehow found my French family. Two adults and two girls; one girl had her hair in a loose braid. Her hair wasn't very long, but it was pretty. She had dark brown hair, and green eyes. She was short, though; I could see over the top of her head. The other girl was the same height as me, with her hair in a shaggy sort of style. She had black hair, and black eyes. All four of them smiled at me.  
            "Bonjour, Anna."  
            I looked at the man, presumably the father. I tried my best to return the greeting.  
            "Bonjour, Madame. Vous est soif?"  
            The two girls started laughing. The woman tittered. The man rolled his eyes upward, praying for patience.  
            "Tu es americanne, oui?"  
            That one, I knew. He was asking me if I was American. I answered as best I could. And failed.  
            "Oui, je m'apelle american."  
            The woman cracked up. One girl had her hands on her sides, laughing. The man was still trying to have patience with the dumb American.  
            "Okay, before I embarrass myself anymore, witch one of you is Aude?"  
            The girl with the shaggy black hair raised her hand.  
            "Aude, be honest. What did I just say?"  
            "'Hello, madam, you are thirst?' then, 'Yes, my name is American'. In the masculine way."  
            "I am not going to make it here for two months, I really am not."  
            When I was done explaining and apologizing to Aude and Veronique's parents on the way to their house, I settled in.  
            I chatted to Veronique, with Aude interpreting. I made a fool out of myself, of course. I seem to recall I asked Veronique if she was a boy.  
            Pathetic, aren't I?  
            About one o'clock, American time, I called Cassie.  
            On the third ring, "Hello?"  
            "Hi, could I talk to Cassie?"  
            "Sure, hang on."  
            Her dad called for Cassie.  
            "Anna?"  
            "Yo."  
            "This is a long distance phone call, isn't it?"  
            "I'm on a payphone. What's up?"  
            Cassie was silent.  
            "Okay, what's wrong?"  
            "Ax was asking Tobias what humans pressing their lips together meant."  
            I felt like shooting myself. Or Tobias. Either one would get rid of my embarrassment. I wanted to crawl into a corner and die.  
            "Cassie?"  
            "Yeah?"  
            "I am going to become a nun. Nuns don't have to deal with this kind of stuff, as far as I know."  
            "There's nothing wrong, I mean, if you like him, and he likes you, then-"  
            I interrupted.  
            "As if Anna and Lex haven't given me the nth degree already. Cassie, as far as I know, he hates my guts, but has to tolerate me because I fight the you-know-who same as he does. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Regardless of how much you hate them."  
            Cassie couldn't think of anything to say. I changed the subject.  
            "How goes all in the other side of the planet?"  
            "Pretty good. Marco put a spring out snake in this girl's locker today. We released a baby opossum today. The one you helped out with."  
            "Cool."  
            Aude's borrowed telecarte was loose. It jiggled in its socket.  
            "Hey, Cassie? Dinner is in a few minutes. So I'll let you go."  
            "Okay."  
            "Bye."  
            "Anna?"  
            "Huh?"  
            "You okay?"  
            "Of course I'm okay? Why wouldn't-"  
            And then the telecarte fell out. It hung up on both of us.

            We had escargots for dinner.  
            Some advice: don't chew.  
            We also had some fruit, this drink called 'orangina', which was the nirvana of beverages, and some excellent cheese. I was beginning to realize what Aximilli meant about taste. So much good food, so little time. I kept sopping my bread in the sauce. Every single part of that meal was delicious. I probably ate my weight in something called 'cuisses de grenoullie'.  
            After dinner, the jet lag kicked in. I went upstairs to Veronique's room, and hopped in the extra bed. About two hours later, she joined me. I woke up on the next day and attended a French school. Let me tell you, it was a lot more fun than an American school. For one, you get hours for lunch. For another, the teachers over there were a lot more patient with me. And since I had no clue what kids were saying to me, I got into no fights.  
            We were getting ready to go to school the next day, when I asked Veronique how the weather was.  
            "Il fait mauvais. Il pleut."  
            I dressed for the weather: A T-shirt, shorts, and sunglasses, which is how I wound up at a bus stop, freezing to death, reading a newspaper, with Aude and Veronique, in the rain.  
            "I will never fight again, I will never get into a school fight again, I will always carry a French/English dictionary with me for the rest of my life, I will be an ideal student, I will tear that slug from Chapman's head and beat the crap out of him, I will not wear shorts in the freezing rain, I will-"  
            Aude was translating my words to Veronique. They were both laughing.  
            "Veronique says you weren't really interested in coming here, where you?"  
            "Aude, tell her that I was forced to come here by my vice principal. And while you're at it, could you please tell me what this says?"  
            I pointed to an article.  
            "It says that there was a sighting of a, ah, how do you say? Espace navire?"  
            "Space, space something."  
            "Espace. Boat, airplane, ah..."  
            "Ship. Spaceship. A UFO."  
            "Oui. A spaceship. It says it was spotted Mardi of last week at deux heures. Two o'clock. There is a photo at the bottom. Voila."  
            I looked at the ship. It was egg shaped, with three stilts on the large part. Smooth looking, and flying through the air. There was a plume of blue gas or something in the back.  
            "Cool. Any clue what it is?"  
            Aude looked at me solemnly. At first, I thought she didn't know what I said, so I repeated it in French.  
            "Non. Je nais pas savoir."

            I breezed through classes, with little confrontation. I did wind up in trouble at a cafe, after school.  
            "Je veux un avocat."  
            The waiter looked furious. I think he was about ready to slap me, when Veronique stepped in.  
            "Un avocat. Fruit. Je voudrais un avocat."  
            The waiter glared at me. I looked desperately to Veronique.  
            "Veronique, save the dumb American, if you would be so kind."  
            Aude was laughing like there was no tomorrow.  
            "Elle est americanne," Veronique said, like that explained everything.  
            The waiter looked at me again, and left.  
            "Okay, what'd I say this time?"  
            "I want to see a lawyer. You asked for a lawyer, not an avocado," Aude managed in between bursts of laughter.  
            "Guys? Never let me loose on Paris, okay? I wouldn't survive a minute."  
            The waiter came with our food. I made sure to give him an extra tip. I attacked my avocado once he left.  
            "Hey, whose that guy?"  
            "Qui?"  
            "That guy back there. I saw him outside the school, and now he's here. You know him?"  
            Aude's face paled. She slowly turned around and saw the man I was referring to. He was tall, dark, and dangerous looking, and had this weird watch thingy on his wrist. He was staring intently at Aude and me.  
            "Let's go. We have to get out of here now."  
            "Pourquoi?" I asked. It means 'why?'  
            "I'll tell you later. Pay and get out of here."  
            We paid and headed on home. There were a lot of twisty roads around Veronique's home, and it would be easy to lose someone. But this guy kept following us, like he was tracking us. Almost as though we were calling out to him.  
            "Aude, what's going on?"  
            "I'll tell you later. Down this way."  
            Aude, Veronique, and I ducked into another street. Veronique was demanding to know what was going on, and I presumed that Aude gave her the same basic story.  
            We ran down the street, and I looked behind me. The same man was behind us, but he was running after us, too!  
            "Aude, he's chasing us!"  
            "Au secturs! Au secturs!" Veronique screamed.  
            "Diviser!"  
            "What?!"  
            "Split!"  
            _What's going on? What's happening?  
            __Anna, there is a strange man following us, running after us, we're in a strange country, and I have no clue what's going on.  
            Lex spun my head around, for some odd reason. I widened my eyes.  You see, what we saw wasn't what we should have seen. His eyes were glowing. They were glowing blue.  
            __People's eyes don't glow blue. Anna noticed.  
            __And that's a great way to think, human, except this man's eyes are. Lex said.  
            "Aude!"  
            "I see!"  
            The man was gaining on me. In fact, I was in arm's length.  
            "Ahh!"  
            I had lost sight of Veronique. She had taken another street and disappeared. Aude was still ahead of me.  
            SLAM!  
            The guy had tackled me!  
            "Aude! Help!"  
            I was rolled onto my back. The man stared at me.  
            __Finally caught one of you!  
            "Tele-speech?"  
            I don't know who was more surprised, Lex or I.  
            __Tele-speech? A Shifter? Here? On Earth? What?  
            I didn't wait for any help; I slugged the bum. His head snapped back, and I kicked him up and back. Then I was out of there.   
            "C'mon!"  
            "You can't get away! I can still trace you!"  
            "Aude, dire moi qu'est-ce qui se passe?! Hey, I actually said a sentence correctly, I think."  
            Aude grabbed my arm and dragged me into another side street.  
            "How fast can you go?"  
            "You'd be surprised. Now, what's going on?"  
            "I'll tell you later. Let's get the enfer out of here!"  
            I didn't know all French words. I can't speak the language to save my life. But I did have a vague idea of what 'enfer' meant.  
            We both started running like the hounds of Hades were after us. About ten minutes later, the guy gave up.  
            "What. Was. Just. Going. On?"  
            "I'll tell you-"  
            "Later, yeah, I know. But now is later. So tell me. Who was that guy, why were his eyes blue, and how was he talking in my head? And where's Veronique?"  
            Aude stared at me. I stared back. Then we realized it:             We had lost Veronique. We looked around the apartment areas. We even looked at her favorite cafe. No luck. We were trudging back to Aude's apartment when she had an idea.  
            "Bien entendu!"  
            I moaned. I was too tried to even think about trying to translate.  
            "English, please. Plain, simple, English. I'm begging you."  
            "I know where to look for my sister."  
            "Hopefully, it'll be better than our last attempts."  
            Aude led me down another twisting street. I followed, with her half dragging me. We wound up at another apartment building.  
            "Why would she be here?"  
            "She wouldn't be here. But if anyone can help us, it's mes amie."  
            Aude occasionally speaks in a combination of French and English. But it's cool, because I pick up a little French because of that. And it gives her a well-deserved break.  
            "Mes amie?"  
            "Mon ami, ma amie, my friend. Or friends. They live here."  
            We walked into the apartment, and started racing up some stairs. At about the fourth floor, we stopped, went down the hall, and knocked on the door of the last apartment.  
            A boy, about Aude's age, answered the door, and rushed us in.  
            "Salut, Aude." the guy looked at me. "Comment t'applelles-tu?"  
            I stared blankly at him.  
            "He just asked me what my name is, right?"  
            "Oui."  
            "Oh. Good, then. Je m'appelle Anna. Je suis americanne. I know very little French."  
            "Voici mon ami Mathieu" Aude explained.  
            Mathieu nodded. He then looked over to Aude. I think he asked her what was wrong. Aude replied in French. They went on, in an urgent-sounding conversation, without mentioning Veronique's name.  
            "Um, excuse me? One of us is out of the conversational loop, here."  
            Aude looked at me.  
            "Excusez-moi, Anna. I was telling Mathieu what had happened."  
            "Did you tell him how we lost Veronique?"  
            "Ah, non."  
            She told him about it. He said something about a navire, and they continued talking.  
            __What are they talking about?  
            __I dunno, Anna. But whatever it is, I don't think they want us to hear it.  
            __Oui.  
            __Anna, just how much French have you picked up?  
            __Beaucoup. Je parle francais beucoup.  
            __WHAT?!  
            __I speak much French. Unlike you, Stryke.  
            __Lex?  
            __Yes?  
            __Is she getting on your nerves, or am I special?  
            __Everybody's nerves. I think she enjoys it.  
            __Oui, j'adore ennuyeux. Anna countered. To this day, I don't have a clue what it means.  
            Aude and Mathieu talked in hurried voices for a while. I looked around the apartment.  
            The whole place was dark, but that was just because the lights were off. The rooms were painted pink, yellow, and white; depending on which one you were in. One door was open, and stuck out, mostly because of its contrast.  
            It was dark in there, but not just because the lights were off. The walls were painted a navy blue, almost black. There was a single light in the corner, and it was turned off. A bird's cage was hanging by the door. A trunk was shoved against the far wall. A small and uncomfortable looking bed was on the right wall. The only window's shades were pulled down. A desk was pushed against the left wall. On it, were papers.  
            I strolled over casually and looked at them. Most were written in French. Homework, letters, memos of some sort. But others were written in some garble. There was no letters. Just symbols. The text looked like something a printer spits out when it won't print what you want.  
            I picked up one. It had images on it. A map of Paris. Some rough illustrations of four people. Something that looked half human, half Navarazzi, half snake.  That's too many halves, I know, but somehow it was appropriate. Doodles of a few spaceships. One looked like the egg ship that was in the newspaper. Another looked like a classic flying saucer. The last two were what caught my attention.  
            "Whoa. How the heck would he know what one of those look like?"  
            Long. Cigar shaped. A kind of dent at the front, a plume in the back. Bat-like wings on both sides, with wicked spikes at the tips. Thousands of pits on the bottom.  
            I had seen one of those once. Right after I had moved. Right after I agreed to join with the Animorphs.  
            Tracer ship._

_            "...Tracer ship. Run. Run far and fast."_  
            _Hey! That's my line!  
            I had seen one of those, been taken aboard one. I had barely escaped it. My brother, Notum, had lost his hand trying to prevent my escape._

            The other doodle disturbed me even more. It was a doodle of two ships fighting in space. One ship was fat, with spidery legs sticking out of its sides. The other one had a laser beam firing on the other ship. It was tall and slender, with a huge dome on top. I could see little blur marks of tiny ships hosting little personal battles with each other dotting the area.  
            None of the doodles were really clear. Most of them were smudged. But I could tell one was of the egg ship spotted, one was of a Navarazzi craft, one was probably a Skrit Na raider, and the last was of an Andalite Dome ship and a Yeerk Pool ship fighting.  
            "How does he know this?"  
            _Could be coincidence. Could be he's a Controller. But it'd be awfully bad if he was drawing the truth for all to see. Or...  
            __Or what, Anna?  
            __...Or he could be a Shifter! A Navarazzi! Lex finished.  
            I shook our head. I didn't think so.  
            "We are the only ones who escaped the Tracer ship. The only Shifters on Earth. Or Shifter, rather. I don't think he's one of us. But that guy...Lex, female Navarazzis' eyes glow red when they get ticked off, right? So would a male's glow blue?"  
            __I was too young to remember that kind of stuff. I was __given instructions, but that's it.  
            __Instructions? Anna demanded, _What instructions?_  
            Lex never got to explain, because Mathieu and Aude barged into the room then.  
            "What are you doing in here?!"  
            Evidently, Mathieu speaks English.  
            I hid the paper behind my back. They didn't see it. I folded it as quietly as I could. My face burned with embarrassment  
            "I was just, um, I was...eh, looking around while you were talking."  
            "I don't think Mathieu wants you in his room."  
            "Oh. Um, sorry, man."  
            Mathieu glared at me. I stuffed the paper in the back pocket of my jeans.  
            I walked past Aude, who eyed me very carefully. Mathieu stared hard at me. I slinked away into the living room.  
            Mathieu and Aude sat down. I sat down on the floor, whereas they were on the couch.  
            "I think I know where Veronique might have ended up," Mathieu began.  
            "Where?"  
            He glared at me again. I shut up. Something about him made me uneasy.  
            "Ou est-elle?" Aude asked in French.  
            "A la masion-"  
            "What?" I interrupted.  
            "At her house," he snapped.  
            "Ah. Great. Well, if that's all, maybe we should go-"  
            At her house. Puhlease. I could have figured that out. Any idiot could have figured that out.  
            "You go ahead, Anna. You know the way?"  
            "Uh, yeah."  
            "I'll meet you back at my house. The man should be gone."  
            "Great. I'll go, you two hang. See you later."  
            I walked out of the apartment faster than Aude could say anything.  
            When I finally got to Veronique's apartment building, I realized I didn't have a key. Smart move, Stryke. I buzzed. No answer. I buzzed again. A voice answered in French.  
            "Allo? Bonjour?"  
            "Uh...it's me, Anna."  
            "Anna! Qu'est-ce qui passe?!"  
            "Eh, dubwa? Meh? Repeat please?"  
            "Quel?"  
            "Just let me up, Veronique!"  
            I guess she got the idea. The door unlocked. I ran up the stairs.  
            "Anna! Qu'est-ce qui passe?!"  
            "Veronique, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," I put my hand on her shoulder and said in a low, slow voice, "I have no clue what you're saying."  
            "Quel?"  
            I sighed. We just couldn't communicate. I tried my best.  
            "Aude is at Mathieu's. Elle est la masion du Mathieu."  
            Veronique looked at me as though to say, 'Yeah, that's nice. You're smoking what?'  
            I threw up my arms. I gave up.  
            "She's at Mathieu's!"  
            Veronique asked me some more questions in French, and I asked her some more questions in English, and none of them got answered.  
            Aude finally got home a few hours later. She mentioned how she needed to talk to her friends, and her parents came home.  
            Aude's mother told me how we would be visiting a zoo tomorrow. She asked me if I liked animals. I told her my friends and I were all really into animals.  
            I slumped my way up to Veronique's room after dinner, and opened my suitcase.  
            "Let's see. Baloney, baloney, where is the baloney?"  
            __You're still hungry? How many pounds of ham did you just have?  
            __Anna, what ham?  
            __The jambon, Stryke. Jambon is ham au francais.  
            __Anna, please. I'm beggin' ya. Speak a language I understand. I don't try and talk Navarazzi to you, do I?  
            __Maybe you should master English first, Stryke. You don't say, 'try and talk Navarazzi' or 'beggin ya' in English.  
            __You mean they ain't proper?  
            __I didn't hear that.  
            __Shouldn't we be looking at that paper, guys? Lex interrupted.  
            I nodded and popped the baloney in my mouth and pulled out the paper from Mathieu's room. Half of it was in French. The other half was written in that symbol language. I tried to decipher it, but it didn't seem to be in any sort of code that I recognized.  
            "Great. What is this?"  
            Anna shrugged my shoulders. I heard a knock at the door.  
            "Who is it?" I asked as I stuffed the paper in my suitcase.  
            "Aude."  
            "C'mon in."  
            Aude stepped in. She looked really upset. Understandable.  
            "Anna, why do you think that man attacked us today?"  
            "I dunno."  
            "What?"  
            "Just my way of saying I don't know. Did you tell your parents? Did they call the police?"  
            Aude shook her head. She then asked a question I really didn't see coming. She laughed ruefully.  
            "Where do you think you'll be going?"  
            "What do you mean?"  
            Aude looked at me again, all laughter gone.  
            "Up or down. Enfer ou ciel."  
            I jerked my head back. It's a Navarazzi sort of reflex.  
            "What? Why are you asking me this?"  
            Aude turned away. I shrugged.  
            "I don't know. Wherever I belong, I guess. But I don't really believe in that stuff. I mean, if I die, and I go someplace, fine. But I guess-I'm talking too much."  
            "No, go on. I like hearing about these kinds of things."  
            I looked at my new shoes. My five-year old ones, my absolute favorite pair of shoes, had gotten shredded. Don't ask.  
            "I kind of believe that if you sit around thinking about death, it'll come even faster. But if you do everything to prevent it, you're mostly safe."  
            "But do you do that?"  
            I stared at Aude. Why was she asking me these questions?  
            Maybe it was what happened that day. Maybe she was afraid that man would hurt us, maybe even kill us. Maybe she was wondering if I felt the same, if I was afraid.  
            "Aude, I'm a hypocrite. I think that if you are really careful, and stay away from danger, keep security tight, and protect yourself from your enemies, you're mostly safe. But I cross the line. I'm a leak. I let information out, little by little. I talk too much. I put others at danger. I'm a hypocrite. It's what I believe, not what I do." I laughed.  
            "Well, sometimes people are just like that."  
            "Oh, yeah. Sometimes you have to cross the line. For the better, you know? But I do it way too much."  
            "Yes," she laughed, "sometimes you have to cross the line, just to know it's there."  
            I nodded sadly.  "But some day, someone's going to pay. Because of me. Marco. Rachel. Cassie."  
            Aude looked at me strangely. I sort of forgot she was there, I guess, because I just started going on and on, getting emotional.  I choked on my words.  
            "Aximilli. I may wind up hurting him. Not that I haven't already."  
            "Anna, what are you talking about?"  
            "What? Huh? Oh, um, sorry. Just kind of lost in my own thoughts."  
            Aude looked at me in a sideways fashion, then told me it was almost time for bed. We'd need rest, because we were going to visit Paris in the morning.  
            I got dressed and went to bed. I got virtually no sleep that night. My Navarazzi instincts and my human instincts fought over control. I was exhausted, but couldn't sleep to save my life. Until about five A.M., of course.  That's just my sort of luck.  
            I woke up with this enormous headache. I removed the covers from my face. The blanket got caught on my blade. I stretched, extending my talons.  
            Blade? TALONS?  
            "What the?! I thought I had control of this now!"  
            I had Shifted part way in my sleep. I was basically human, only I had claws, talons, and a horn. I wasn't worried, though. I mean, it wasn't like anyone would actually notice. I clenched my fists. I concentrated on becoming human.  
            "C'mon, c'mon. Wear off, wear off, wear off. Shift, Shift, Shift, hurry!"  
            __What's going on here? What's with the out of control Shifting all of a sudden?  
            __I don't know, Lex! It never did this before-  
            I was human now. I unclenched my fists.  
            __-Before we used the Time Matrix!  
            "Great. Just great. Wonderful. So now, on top of all my problems, I can't control what body I'm in? Oh, this is just great!"  
            I got out of bed. Veronique was already up. Probably eating breakfast, or petit dejeuner. I looked to the ceiling.  
            "I do not need this! I have enough going on in my life! I don't need anything else going wrong! Who was it, huh? Who selected ME?! Why am I the one to be made like this?!"  
            I sat down. Veronique's mother came in to see why I was yelling. I told her I was kind of stressed, and went down to breakfast. Crepes. Fruit. Something resembling hard-boiled eggs called l'oeuf a la coque. Some great concoction of juices.  
            Afterwards, I got dressed in the best clothes I owned. A blue blouse, black vest, and black jeans. Most of my wardrobe is either black, solid colored, or something Rachel convinced me to buy. I own one dress. And that's the dress I wear to orchestra concerts. Mrs. Ocechap, the director, wouldn't like it too much if I wore it out of concert.  
            We visited the zoo. I picked up a souvenir for my friend Tasha. We were best friends...before. But, anyway, she liked to paint, and there was this great animal paint set there. I figured I'd mail it to her.  
            We visited the Notre Dame. Huge. Beautiful. Glamorous. It was on the Seine river.  
            Aude insisted we take a boat ride on the river. Aude's mom allowed us all to go. We paid our fare, and hopped aboard. It was great. The weather had cleared, and it was a sunny blue. Aude and I leaned on the rail, looking at the river.  
            I heard some shouting behind me. I looked around ten seconds too late.  
            "Woah!"  
            The same man that had attacked Aude and I was behind me, pushing his way through some people.  
            "Anna! Look out!"  
            Too late. The man got to both of us. Aude was still leaned against the rail. I jumped out of the way. The mystery man grabbed hold of Aude's arm. Several people started trying to pull the guy off.  
            __What is this guy after?!  
            __Us, Lex. Evidently, he's after us.  
            __Shall we? Lex asked, knowing what I'd say.  
            __Oh no. He's not a Yeerk. This has nothing to do with Yeerks. WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!  
            __Ah, Anna and her cowardice.  
            __No, she's a cowardess!  
            __Waitaminute. So what you're saying is this: I am a cowardice? What sense does that make?  
            __Not a cowardice, Anna. Cowardess!  
            __A cowardess? I believe I have been insulted.  
            __And I believe you're right. I said. I was running to Aude and weirdo guy.  
            I flipped over one guy. The man who was following us had thrown him. The man himself, wrist thing and all, was trying to push Aude off the ship. I grabbed him, spun him around, and punched him.  
            "Ugh! You again?! Two in one?"  
            The punch, evidently, didn't do much damage. He grabbed Aude and I at the same time and threw us overboard. Five people grabbed him and pulled him away. A few others tried to catch us before we hit water. They failed, of course.  
            SPLASH!  
            Water was churning around me. I choked on muddy, dirty, cold, rushing water. I tried to swim to the surface, but the ship's wake pulled me closer.  
            Fwooomsh, fwooomsh, fwuuuumpsh! Thump!  
            I spun madly around right before hitting the hull. I swear I heard something snap. I saw a rush of air bubbles stream out of my mouth.  
            Wooooosh!  
            I breezed past the ship, going I don't know how fast. I kicked as hard as I could. Anna screamed in my head. Lex gasped. I choked. I felt the water above me seem to swell. It pushed me down. I pushed up. It was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life. I had to fight the water, stay as close to the ship as I could, battle the ship's wake, which was pushing me down into the river, and do it all without air at the same time. Not fun, or easy.  
            Fwooosh!  
            I broke through. I gasped. I kicked and wiped the water away from my eyes. I shook my head and heard shouting.  
            "He...he...help! Help! Au secturs! Help..."  
            I was pretty exhausted, really. I saw Aude crashing above the water a few feet upriver from me. She cried out for help too.  
            A few minutes later, two lifesavers were tossed to us from the ship. One landed almost on top of Aude. The other was pretty far from me. A duck landed on it.  
            "Okay, bird, I don't have time for jokes right now. Move."  
            I swatted at it. It bit me. I splashed it, and it flapped its wings at me. And it didn't move.  
            "Great. A duck with an attitude." I paused, and realized what I'd said. "A duck with an attitude. My life is too weird, I mean it."  
            I swatted at the duck some more. It did more 'I'm a duck, I'm cool, and I'm not moving'. I got cheesed.  
            "Okay, Daffy, let's see how well you like underwater attacks."  
            I dived, swam under the tube, and pushed up. Daffy took off in a fury of frightened feathers. I grabbed hold, and allowed myself to be pulled back to the boat, which hadn't stopped.  
            Some people took Aude and I into a cabin in the boat. There, we were given medical treatment, towels, and a refund on our tickets. The man had gotten away.  
            Aude had cut her arm on the ship's hull. She had it bandaged. Aude's mom insisted we go home. When we got there, Aude and Veronique's parents went to the police. They had already gotten a statement from Aude and I, but they needed the parent's report. But they did drop us off.  
            While Aude took a shower, I attacked the fridge. I was real hungry, and I couldn't read any of the labels. So I sniffed. Navarazzis 'smell' like snakes. They flick out their tongues, taste the air, and decipher what they taste. So that's why I flicked my tongue above the containers of food. I finally found a good tasting kind of sauce, labeled 'colle' Naturally, I didn't know what it meant. Neither did Anna. So I sopped it up in a baguette, and ate it. The stuff was terrible. Sticky. Gummy. Tasted awful.  
            Aude came out of the shower, told me it was my turn, and asked why I had a really disgusted look on my face. Veronique was in her room.  
            "It's this sauce," I explained," It smells like mayonnaise, yet has the consistency of glue."  
            Aude looked at the container I got it from. She started laughing.  
            "There is a good reason for that, too," she said.  
            "What?"  
            "'Colle' means glue, Anna."  
            I stopped chewing. I felt my insides churn.  
            "So I just ate paste."  
            "Oui. It's for Veronique's new art project."  
            "I just ate glue."  
            "Oui."  
            I paused, chewed a little more, and ran into the bathroom. I punched myself in the stomach, and threw up. Aude joined me after a few minutes.  
            "I don't think you ate enough to really get hurt, but did you vomit it all out?"  
            "Oh, yeah. I'm cool, I'm cool."  
            I grabbed a change of clothes, took a shower, and came out drying my hair. Aude was in the living room, staring out the window.  
            "Woah," I said.  
            Just outside the window, above the building across the street, was a flying egg thing. It had the three eggs, the plume of blue gas, and the off white smoothness of the ship in the paper. It hovered around that building, hovered over ours, and started making a low humming sound.  
            "Ahhh!"  
            I got a sharp pain in my right shoulder. It spread to my head and down to my knee. I doubled over in pain. Aude ran over to the kitchen I followed her. She seemed to be in the same amount of pain I was in. We both ran into the kitchen. I was down on the floor in pain by then. Aude seemed like she was about to pass out. The humming stopped.  
            "Huh...huh...huh...what just happened?"  
            Aude didn't explain. She shrugged her shoulders and started pulling the toaster out of its socket.  
            "Aude?"  
            "I'm not sure. Look, could you check the fish?"  
            Aude's father owns a pair of tropical fish. They have this little aquarium in their living room.  
            "Why are you interested in fish? How about that big egg ship? The little humming sounds? The pain we were just in?"  
            By then, Aude had torn apart the toaster. She started connecting wires.  
            "I need to do something. I need you to take that bowl over there, pour some water in it, and put the fish in it. Please?"  
            I shook my head, but did as she asked. I filled the bowl, and-no pun intended-fished the little guys into the bowl. One slipped out from between my fingers. I rolled up my sleeve, and stuck my whole arm in the tank. It never occurred to me Aude was playing with those wires in the other room. I almost had the fish, when Aude started shouting.  
            "I almost have it. Electricite!"  
            Another humming session started. I felt the same pain in my shoulder again. The lights in the house went out. So did the filter in the fish tank.  
            I realized what Aude was doing. She was making a power surge! And my arm was still in the tank. The tank filled with water, by the way.  If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.  
            Zzzzzap!  
            I was jolted! I didn't know how many volts were shot through me, but believe me, it was probably a lot.  
            Fizzakkk!  
            My arm flew out of the tank. My knee, shoulder, and head were burning. I fell to the floor. Every atom of my body was hurting. I was twitching wildly.  
            "Ahh!"  
            __Argh!  
            __"Nooo!"  
            Anna, Lex and I were screaming. I hurt everywhere. I lost the ability to think. I lost control of my spasms. But I could tell only one thing. The Tele-speech screams in my head were different somehow. Like they were never before. . ._


End file.
